


Regular To Go

by reeby10



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Coffee Shops, Fluff, HP: EWE, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-24 22:50:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9790640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/pseuds/reeby10
Summary: Ron loves working at the coffee shop. Draco, a businessman, is his favorite customer to talk to (and lust after). A big change at work sparks a big change in their relationship.





	

**Author's Note:**

> **Warnings or Content** : no magic AU, coffee shop AU  
>  **Disclaimer **: Not mine.  
> **  
> **  
>   
>  **Notes** : I hope you enjoy! Thanks to Biff for the beta.

Ron loved working at the coffee shop. It was warm and cozy, the scent of coffee and baked goods permeating the air no matter if he came in at seven in the morning or three in the afternoon. Even more than that, though, he liked watching the people.

The morning rush was mostly business people on the way to work and college students on the way to class. They tended to come in grumbling about the day ahead, or just too tired to talk before they’d had at least one cup of coffee. Generally Ron just watched them go about their business in the shop, wondering which businesswoman was about to seal a big deal or which college student was about to fail a big test.

(And if he gave that college student a free coffee when they came in that afternoon, tear tracks down her cheeks, well, his manager hadn’t berated him too much.)

The afternoon rush was usually college students needing a place to study and mothers about to pick up their children, with a few business people on their way home thrown into the mix. They were more talkative and Ron always enjoyed the little snatches of conversation he overheard while he made drinks. His friends made fun of him sometimes for being a gossip, but he’d learned to embrace it. There were always interesting people in and out of the shop, and even more interesting conversations.

(Once he heard far more than he wanted to about some soccer mom’s sex life, but a night of drinking with Harry and Hermione had mostly drowned that memory out.)

But his favorite was one particular businessman. Ron had been immediately taken with the slim blond, both of them snarking at each other across the bar every time they saw one another. The man had been coming in every morning and afternoon for weeks before Ron finally even got a name out of him.

Draco apparently worked at some sort of financial office a block or two away, a job he’d gotten thanks to his very rich and influential father. More information came slowly, pried out between (fond) insults and overdramatic complaints about his idiotic coworkers. He loved his family but felt pressured by them to be someone he wasn’t quite sure he wanted to be. He hated his job and he hated his boss even more.

(He was terrified of his boss, though he never said so in as many words. Ron had learned to read between the lines while working as a barista, a skill that was a far cry from how he’d been when he was in school.)

Ron would have been lying if he said he hadn’t had a crush on Draco since the first day he saw him walk through the coffee shop door. The twice daily coffee runs (a ristretto and a black coffee to go in the morning, a flat white in the afternoon) were the main bright spots in his day, enough so that even a customer yelling at him could barely dampen his high mood for the next hour or so. His manager just rolled her eyes at his obviousness, but Ron was willing to live with that. (Hermione was one of his best friends, after all, so ignoring that sort of thing was practically second nature.)

One morning Ron was standing at the counter at the tail end of the morning rush, boredly counting cups and restacking them beside the till. It had been busy earlier, enough to distract him, but now he was just waiting to see Draco.

He’d been stepping up his flirting game the past few days with help from Ginny. (She’d laughed when he’d first asked her, but she was a good sister and once she’d picked herself up off the ground, she’d agreed to give him some tips since his romantic record was pretty abysmal.) He wasn’t sure it was working yet, but he wanted to keep trying. Maybe someday he’d even get up the nerve to ask Draco out.

The door opened with a loud jingle and Ron looked up to see Draco making his way to the bar. The blond looked exhausted and stressed, eyes red rimmed in his pale face. He’d been looking that way for the past several days, but today seemed even worse. Ron frowned, wishing he could do anything to make things better for the other man.

“Morning, Draco,” Ron said cautiously, eying the downward slope of Draco’s shoulders beneath his bespoke suit. “The usual?”

Draco grunted an affirmative, even more dour this morning than usual as he took the nearest seat to the bar. Ron kept an eye on him as he prepared the drinks, waiting to see if Draco would want to talk about what had him so out of sorts. Sometimes he did (most times he didn’t), but Ron had learned that pressing for conversation didn’t work very well.

“I’ve got a big project due for evaluation today,” Draco finally said. His voice was quiet and rough and a little lost, like he hadn’t slept very well. He looked like he hadn’t. “It’s going to make me or break me at the company, and my father has been pressing me for days about doing well on it. I just… it’s all a bit much, you know?”

Ron nodded, sliding the ristretto across the bar. “That’s a lot of pressure.”

Draco took the cup and downed the hot liquid in one go, barely flinching although it had to be burning his mouth and throat. “That’s an understatement,” he muttered, shaking his head. “But it’s not like I can get out of it.”

They chatted for a few more minutes as Ron prepared the coffee to go, though there was no more talk of Draco’s evaluation. Draco seemed almost desperate not to think about it after that, and Ron was more than happy to talk about other things. (By the time Draco left for work, they were both smiling just a bit more.)

Their conversation stayed on Ron’s mind for the rest of the day, and he even found himself occasionally distracted from his people watching by wondering how Draco was doing and if the evaluation had gone well, despite his horrible boss. The day flew by in a haze as he waited to hear how it went when Draco returned for his after work drink.

Ron leaned against the bar, sipping a double shot caramel macchiato and daydreaming about Draco as he killed time before the afternoon rush. The door opened with a loud jangle of the bell, interrupting the calm quiet of the shop and making Ron look up at the noise. Draco was practically running in, eyes wild.

“Draco?” Ron asked, straightening up and setting down his drink. His worry that Draco’s evaluation hadn’t gone well suddenly started to seem much more reasonable. “What- um, how are you?”

“I was fired!” Draco exclaimed.

Ron felt his stomach drop until he noticed that Draco was actually smiling. That was odd, to say the least. “I’m… sorry?” he said, unsure of what reaction Draco was looking for.

Draco shook his head, smile widening. “Don’t be,” he replied. “I think this is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I feel so free being away from them, no matter what my father is going to have to say about it.”

“Well then, that’s really great, Draco.” Ron reached for a cup, returning the smile. (He wasn’t sure he understood, but he was happy that Draco was happy.) “How about a drink on the house. A sort of congratulations, if you like?”

For a moment, Ron thought that Draco might reject the offer. He paused, eyebrows scrunching together in a frankly adorable way before his face cleared and he took a step forward. Ron opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get a word out, Draco had leaned in and kissed him.

Despite the surprise, it only took a second for Ron to start kissing back, the cup in his hand falling forgotten on the floor as he reached forward to take Draco’s face and deepen the kiss. It was just as good as every daydream Ron had ever allowed himself (which was embarrassingly many, if he was being honest). The edge of the bar was digging into his stomach and he was sure Draco was likewise uncomfortable, but he honestly couldn’t find it in himself to be bothered. He never wanted to stop kissing Draco.

A loud cough was what broke them apart however long later. Ron tore his eyes from Draco’s beautifully flushed face to see his manager standing a few feet away, arms crossed as she impatiently tapped her foot and glared at him. He suddenly realized that he was still at work (with a face probably even redder than Draco’s), making out with a customer, and there was a handful of middle aged mothers staring at them with expressions ranging from secondhand embarrassment to wicked amusement.

“Um…” Ron started, mind whirring as he tried to figure out what to say. Unfortunately, his mind felt entirely blank at the moment.

“He’s going to take an early day today,” Draco interrupted smoothly, apparently either oblivious to the situation or just not caring about the stares. “He’s not feeling too well, you see, so I’ll be taking him home.”

Ron’s manager sighed, rolling her eyes. “Fine,” she said, waving her hand at them. Ron scurried around the counter until he stood by Draco. “Go. But you had better be back to actually _work_ tomorrow, Ronald Weasley. You hear me?”

“Loud and clear,” Ron replied with vague salute, his ears burning. He reached down and took Draco’s hand, smiling when their fingers intertwined. “I’ll, uh, see you tomorrow then.”

They left the shop to scattered applause and wolf whistles. Neither of them said a word until they were at Draco’s car, a sporty white thing that looked incredibly expensive. (Ron wondered for a moment how Draco would afford it after losing his job, but dismissed the thought. Unimportant.)

“So…” Ron started as they stood there, staring a little shyly at one another. It had been easy in the moment, but now Ron wasn’t sure what to do or say. He wasn’t particularly good at the whole dating thing, so he kind of hoped Draco would just tell him what the heck the two of them were doing. “What now?”

Draco considered him for a moment, then leaned in to plant a soft kiss on his lips. “I think now we head to my apartment and get to know one another a little better,” he said, a self satisfied smirk growing on his face. “If that’s alright with you.”

Ron smiled in return, heart racing with excitement and not a small bit of nervousness. “Oh yeah, that sounds good to me.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of an ongoing fest. You can comment here or on [LIVEJOURNAL](http://ron-draco-fest.livejournal.com/28227.html) for the author to see.
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> Concrit welcome. If you like my fic, feel free to come hit me up [on tumblr](http://voldiebuns.tumblr.com/)!


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